GC: n
CT: This trend and need for newer fields for exploration is not limited to traditional hydrocarbons like oil and gas; the recent developments in alternative energy resources like wind, solar, ocean floor and ocean currents are in the same direction. Countries and companies are gigging and diving deeper – literally – and in more remote parts of the world to position themselves in a leading position in the field. The recent decision of Denmark and Greenland to explore uranium in their remote tundra is in same league: that is, to position themselves as uranium suppliers for nuclear energy production, achieve a status of uranium supplier nation and add capacities for nuclear power generation.
S: ELSEVIER – https://www.elsevier.com/connect/the-arctic-a-virtual-special-issue-of-multidisciplinary-research (last access: 25 November 2015)
N: 1. Named in 1789 in Modern Latin by its discoverer, German chemist and mineralogist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817), for the recently found planet Uranus.
2. There are radioactive minerals in which uranium and thorium substitute for ions of similar size and charge. There are approximately 200 minerals in which uranium or thorium are essential elements, although many of these phases are rare and poorly described. These minerals are important, as they are found in ores mined for uranium and thorium, most commonly uraninite and its fine-grained variety, pitchblende, for uranium. Thorite and thorogummite are the principal ore minerals of thorium. Minerals in which uranium and thorium occur in trace amounts, such as zircon (ZrSiO4), are important because of their use in geologic age dating. The isotope uranium-238 (238U) decays to lead-206 (206Pb); 235U decays to 207Pb; 232Th decays to 208Pb; thus, the ratios of the isotopes of uranium, thorium, and lead can be used to determine the ages of minerals that contain these elements.
3. The haunting, slightly bilious yellow-green of uranium glass fascinated Victorian interior designers. Uranium metal glows green in ultraviolet light, and this property lends uranium glass a subtle yet compelling inner fire.
4. Uranium hexafluoride is a white-to-gray solid made by treating any of several uranium-containing materials, including metallic uranium, UC2, UCl5, and UF4, with molecular fluorine. It is covalently bonded, as would be expected from its low sublimation temperature of 56.5 °C. Its main use is separating uranium isotopes. UF6 is stable in dry air but reacts vigorously with water.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=uranium&searchmode=none (last access: 25 November 2015). 2. AS – http://www.accessscience.com/content/radioactive-minerals/568700 (last access: 25 November 2015). 3. New Scientist – https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830460-900-periodic-tales-all-the-elements-of-a-splendid-failure/ (last access: 25 November 2015). 4. ACS – http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/u/molecule-of-the-week-uranium-hexafluoride.html?_ga=1.169651297.152067325.1448915998 (last access: 25 November 2015).
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CR: depleted uranium, enriched uranium, natural uranium, nuclear energy, polonium .
